This week’s top five on NC Policy Watch

When Gov. Pat McCrory’s chief of staff Thomas Stith accused a respected state toxicologist of lying under oath, he hadn’t even read the deposition in question.

And what Stith said in his own deposition, taken last month by the Southern Environmental Law Center, indicates that hearsay prompted him to hold a late-night press conference to accuse Ken Rudo of perjury. [Continue reading…[3]]

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2016-17 term will commence today, and experts agree that with the court one justice down, some hot-button issues may not be so hot this year. The court’s docket is by no means set, and while there are issues of race, religion and immigration to be reviewed, the 40 cases justices have agreed to hear are, for the most part, very technical.

The court appears to be avoiding extremely partisan cases because of its hobbled state since Justice Antonin Scalia’s death and its current 4-4 ideological split among justices, which could lead to deadlocks. [Continue reading…[6]]

There’s been a great deal of hubbub inside the right-wing echo chamber in recent years about a supposed wave of “political correctness” and free speech “suppression” that has infected American college campuses. According to this narrative, conservative students and academics are constantly squelched in their efforts to exercise their First Amendment rights by “intolerant, leftist” administrators who, it is claimed, are bent upon stifling views with which they disagree. [Continue reading…[8]]

Access to affordable postsecondary education is important to building a workforce in North Carolina that attracts and retains good-paying jobs across the state. Around two out of every three jobs in the state will require some form of post-secondary education by the year 2020. Our state can meet this challenge, but only if we make sure that more people can access and complete these programs. And the biggest barrier to this remains the unaffordability of post-secondary education.

Unfortunately, in recent years, North Carolina has fallen short on the higher education affordability front. [Continue reading…[10]]

When Gov. Pat McCrory signed HB2 into law in March, huge music acts like Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam cancelled shows, boycotting the state to protest the discriminatory law. Other acts, like comedian Louis C.K., booked extra shows in the state and donated the money to pro-LGBT groups.

Henry Rollins, the Grammy-winning author, singer, actor and activist had no intention of canceling his three spoken-word shows in North Carolina – Oct. 15 in Asheville, Oct. 16 in Durham and Charlotte on October 18.

[8] East Carolina officials fumble national anthem controversy: Banning courageous, peaceful protests and bowing to haters is no way for university officials to act: http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=oNGGJJ5EHhug9Kun5dmT24hBzLFztD14